Punch-Drunk Love

“I wanted to ask you something because you’re a doctor… I don’t like myself sometimes. Can you help me?”

“Barry, I’m a dentist.”

And so begins your introduction to Punch-Drunk Love, a Paul Thomas Anderson film, following Barry Egan (played by the delightfully dramatic Adam Sandler), a psychologically troubled man suddenly thrust into a budding romance with the lonely Lena, all the while being extorted out of money following his calling of a sham phone-sex line. Oh, and did I mention anything about pudding?

If you asked me to only use three words to describe this film, I suppose I would have to say…

True to form.

Punch-Drunk Love fully embraces its romantic weirdness and chaotic plot with a warm, welcoming hug, and never once derives from what it first sets out to do. Paul Thomas Anderson brings the story to life with surprising polish, commanding lead actors Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (representing the sleazy pique-perpetrator of Barry’s credit fraud) with an authentic energy that simply radiates off of the screen.

The story rarely ever drags, the only noticeably drab part being a huge break in which Mr. Hoffman’s character is abandoned for a near half-hour. And yet, as soon as you’ll notice it, the film spins you upright again, more whimsical and charming than ever.

8/10- A solidly brilliant film weighed down by only the most insignificant of flaws, Punch-Drunk Love marks a stunning achievement in all of its actors’ careers with the effortless stroke of a finger.